Hai uses poetry combined with the beauty of nature to convey a message of unconditional love. This book allows a parent or grandparent to give young children an outlet from a stress-filled world.
The digital images of animals and natural scenes portray a vision of calm and beauty. Hai manages to reduce the rhymes to no more than two lines, which perfectly convey meaning.
This book should be read aloud before bedtime as a perfect way to prepare for a restful sleep. I would especially recommend it for children in the four-to-seven age range.
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Boredom is not empty. It is the space where attention resets, creativity gathers, and ordinary life becomes vivid again. The goal is not to escape it faster but to stay long enough to receive what it offers. The empty moment was never the problem. It was always the opening.
“Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.”
— Walter Benjamin
Boredom has developed a worse reputation than it deserves. For most of human history it was simply the quiet background of a life, the unremarkable space between one thing and the next. Now it appears and vanishes within a second, erased by a screen before it can settle, and something valuable has been quietly lost in that trade.
This report is not about doing more with your time or filling it more wisely. It is about the opposite: learning to sit inside empty time without flinching and to stop treating every idle moment as a gap that must be closed. What follows are nine practical ways to become comfortable with boredom again, so that your focus steadies, your creativity returns, and your ordinary days start to feel like enough.
Tip 1: Rename the Feeling
Boredom is not an emergency, and treating it like one keeps you reaching for the nearest escape. It is closer to a signal that your attention is momentarily unoccupied and simply waiting for direction. The next time it arrives, name it plainly as ordinary boredom rather than something wrong to be fixed, and let it stay a passing state you can leave alone.
Tip 2: Leave the Small Gaps Empty
The habit of filling every spare second is built one tiny gap at a time, in the seconds spent waiting in line, riding an elevator, or pausing between tasks. Each of those gaps is short and low in stakes, which makes them the ideal training ground for a larger tolerance. Choose a few of them each day and deliberately leave them empty, letting yourself simply stand there and wait.
Tip 3: Let the Restlessness Rise and Pass
When you stop filling a moment, a wave of restlessness usually follows, and it can feel surprisingly physical. That feeling is not a sign that anything is wrong; it is a nervous system used to constant stimulation meeting a moment without any. Rather than acting on it, watch it the way you watch weather, and notice how it crests within a minute or two and fades on its own.
Tip 4: Do One Thing at a Time
Much of what we call boredom is the quiet letdown of an activity that offers only one stream of input at a time. Single-tasking feels slow at first because you have trained yourself to expect several things at once. Pick one ordinary activity each day, whether eating, walking, or washing dishes, and do only that with nothing playing in the background.
Tip 5: Put Empty Time on the Calendar
Unstructured time rarely happens by accident anymore, so it helps to plan for it on purpose. Set aside a short window, even fifteen minutes, with no task, no screen, and no goal beyond letting the time stay open. Sit on a step, look out a window, or wander the block with no destination, and let the emptiness be the point rather than a problem.
Tip 6: Stay With the Boring Task
Dull, repetitive chores are usually treated as things to rush through or distract yourself away from, yet they are a reliable way to practice staying present when nothing exciting is happening. The next time you fold laundry or tidy a room, do it without a podcast or video filling the silence, and give the task your full attention. You will feel the pull toward escape, and each time you stay with it instead, that pull grows a little weaker.
Tip 7: Let Your Mind Wander
An unoccupied mind is not an idle one, because left alone it drifts, connects, and quietly works on problems in the background. This wandering is where a great deal of creativity and insight comes from, which is why answers so often arrive in the shower or on a walk. Give yourself regular stretches with no input, let your thoughts go wherever they like, and treat the drifting as useful rather than wasted.
Tip 8: Turn Down the Stimulation
When your baseline is set by fast, intense, endlessly novel input, ordinary life begins to feel flat and boredom arrives much faster. Lowering that baseline lets the quieter pleasures of an ordinary day register again. For a week, reduce your most stimulating inputs and let your senses recalibrate, and notice how moments that once felt boring begin to feel simply calm.
Tip 9: Give Boredom a Long Enough Runway
The first stretch of any empty moment is almost always the hardest part, and most people give up right there. If you can stay past that initial discomfort, boredom often softens into something closer to rest, reflection, or unexpected interest. Give the feeling more time than you think it needs, and treat the early restlessness as the toll for entry rather than a reason to turn back.
💡 Key Insight Boredom is not empty. It is the space where attention resets, creativity gathers, and ordinary life becomes vivid again. The goal is not to escape it faster but to stay long enough to receive what it offers. The empty moment was never the problem. It was always the opening.
Fast Action Steps
Comfort with boredom grows through small, repeated practice rather than a single decision. These two steps give you a simple place to begin this week.
Action 1: Sit With One Empty Moment
Choose one moment today when you would normally reach for a distraction, and let it stay empty instead. Notice what the restlessness feels like and how long it actually lasts. The aim is not to enjoy the moment but to prove to yourself that you can stay in it.
Which everyday moment will you leave empty, and what did you notice when you did?
Action 2: Reclaim One Single-Tasked Activity
Pick one routine activity and commit to doing it with no background input for the next several days. Let it be as slow and unremarkable as it wants to be. Over a few repetitions, watch whether the urge to fill the silence begins to loosen its grip.
What activity will you single-task, and what pulls at you when the background noise is gone?
Recommended Reading
These books explore boredom, stillness, and the quiet value of unstructured time.
Recommended reading:
Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer
Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Solitude by Anthony Storr
Next Step Pick one empty moment tomorrow and let it stay empty. That single unfilled pause is the whole practice in miniature, and every calm, unhurried moment you allow makes the next one easier to meet.
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Bees Full of Wonder: An educational, rhyming book about the magic of the bees for children, kids (World Full of Wonder 3)
Written by Anna Smithers
Illustrated by Nino Aptsiauri
Smithers manages to pack a lot of information plus a wealth of problem-solving resources in this illustrated picture book.
Even though the language is not colloquial, the rhymes are fun to read out loud, and important vocabulary words are highlighted in color for emphasis. Children learn about the different types of bees and their work in the hive. I especially liked the interactive challenge for the reader to locate twelve different types of bees in the story. Young readers also discover the problems bees face today due to urban expansion.
The illustrations are multicultural, and they include children with disabilities. This book will appeal to children who enjoy nonfiction for information about the life of bees, but also to young community activists who will appreciate the seven practical solutions they can use to help the rapidly declining bee population.
I would highly recommend the book for parents, teachers, and librarians of elementary school readers.
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Jack’s Noisy Day Colouring and Activity Book: A Raucous Romp Through The Alphabet
Written by Sarah Tinney
Illustrated by Ricky Audi
The author released this coloring book as a companion to Jack’s Noisy Day. I enjoyed this one even more than the sound alphabet book.
Here, the author allows the reader to add imaginative color drawings to fill in the black and white illustrations of the original. In addition, there is a word search, practice tracing the letters on pages, and unscrambling the words. Near the end of the book, readers face the challenge of placing letters of the alphabet in the correct order.
Differentiating the types of activities attracts young children who have different learning styles and provides a plethora of opportunities to learn the alphabet.
As a retired educator, I highly recommend this book to parents and teachers of toddlers and preschoolers.
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I Have Feelings, Too: Understanding Dog Communication
Written by Anissa Svoboda
Illustrated by Aneta Knoppova
A wonderful teaching tool for children. It explains how dogs communicate with their bodies, unlike humans, who generally communicate with spoken words.
Readers learn that different breeds of dogs use different parts of their bodies to express different emotions. I enjoyed the parent paws section, which provides an easy-to-understand teaching point. Children learn empathy and respect for our four-legged friends, and how to better communicate with them.
The comprehension questions are useful for parents and teachers to review and reinforce the lessons taught.
I would highly recommend this book to parents and teachers of children ages three through ten.
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A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes: How MORE Dogs Came to Be (Tall Tales Book 4)
Written by Kizzie Jones
Illustrated by Scott Ward
A very creative rhyming picture book! It tells the tale of a young girl and her beloved Daschunds.
One day, while playing on the beach, the dogs decide to play dress-up using the vegetation they find around them. Their mistress is distressed that changing their outside appearance might change their personalities. Will they decide to remain this way?
The author uses the tale to explain the many different types of dogs, their physical characteristics, and how they were named. She provides a glossary of each dog type and the vegetation they associate with.
Children who love dogs will enjoy the humorous tale and the wealth of information about each species. An entertaining read for any age.
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Observing natural leadership qualities in children early can help parents, teachers, and caregivers encourage and develop those important life skills.
If you want to identify and support your child’s leadership qualities, here are some signs to consider:
Talkative
Does it sometimes drive you crazy that your child talks so much? Actually, being talkative may be a sign of things to come. A chatty nature indicates a child with excellent verbal skills, which are important for good leaders. Did your child talk early and proficiently? This may be a sign that he or she will be a good leader.
Treats Others with Respect
If you notice that your child seems to end up in responsible positions – team captain, for instance – and you know he didn’t get that position because of “muscling” his way to the top or bullying others, then this may be a sign of leadership ability. Notice if your child seems to have others “gravitate” toward her and wish to emulate her. Take note as to whether or not this is due to respectful treatment. If it is, you may have a strong leader on your hands.
Sees Both Sides
Some kids exhibit an ability to understand both sides of an issue, rather than being overly committed to one point of view. These children often act as peacekeepers who help their peers find an agreeable middle ground.
In the Know
Does your child always know what’s going on? Is he or she always aware of the latest happening at school or in the family? This is not the same as being a gossip (that’s not a good leadership quality), but it does mean that he or she is paying attention and interested in what’s going on with others.
Inquisitive
A good leader is not afraid to ask questions, but he/she is not afraid to go looking for answers on his own, either. Too much questioning may indicate self-doubt – your child is always trying to make sure about things – but healthy questions that spring from a true desire to know more about something may be a sign of leadership ability.
India – The Land of Festivals: A Monthly Guidebook to Diverse Celebrations (Indian Festival Series 1)
Written by Anuja Mohla
Illustrated by Gowthami Maruthapandiyan
This book contains a wealth of information with colorful illustrations about the diversity of life in India. The author covers each of the six major religions practiced in India. This book is organized by month.
Many of these celebrations, however, are based on the lunar calendar. Each page describes which religion is celebrated in that month and discusses the foods, rituals, customs, and types of celebrations. The reader learns native vocabulary and the significance associated with each.
This book is an excellent choice for teachers who want to explain Indian customs and culture and share multicultural traditions. Indian families can use it as a springboard to explain the rich culture of their homeland.
As a teacher, I appreciated the section at the end of the book that includes matching and recalling information about the festivals.
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Mouse Visits Everglades National Park (Mouse Traveler)
Written by Tricia Gardella
Illustrated by Ginger Nielson
A delightful adventure for primary-grade readers. A mouse gives us a guided tour of Everglades National Park. This intrepid traveler is delighted to find his bird friend at the park.
The bird volunteers to guide his friend. First, they visit many of the birds that inhabit the swamp. Readers learn about egrets and spoonbills. But the mouse wants to see alligators and crocodiles, so he moves on to the mangrove swamp.
Tired from his daylong adventure, the mouse uses his magic acorn to get home.
At the end of the tale, the author includes facts about the Everglades and questions to measure comprehension.
A fun book that contains an adventure story with knowledge about the Everglades.
Recommended to teachers and parents of elementary-age readers.
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This book introduces Kaboose, a Rocky Mountain Bear.
The approach is unique. First, it is a charming tale about how a community of black bears awaits the birth of a cub. The author relates a story that explores the history of the Canadian Rockies and life in the Arrow Valley, exploring its sights, sounds, smells, and connection to railroad history.
The illustrations are expressive and colorful, and the characters are charming.
Looks like a promising new series for readers ages six to ten.
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September 20, 2026
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